Hurray!! Wedding's are back to...Normal?

As we move into the next phase of reopening weddings here in Southern California, most people are thinking that weddings are back to "Normal " ? Well kind of....Since California has opened up restaurants, and even Disneyland is back to 35%capacity. But there are still some things that will continue to take time to return to what we knew before the pandemic, and that includes weddings.

Venues, all kinds of venues, including hotels and restaurant's, have been either closed temporarily or have been doing business with little or no staff for safety and financial reasons. Restaurants often made adjustments by building out the dinning area to an exterior outside space. Weddings and gatherings were not allowed. Some reworked their entire dinning to take-out orders only just to survive. So its's not a surprise when suddenly the public is thinking we are back to "Normal", and we all go running out of our homes in droves to visit our favorite eateries or venues to party. Almost like the mass exodus from the Biblical days! lol At least at times it feels like that.

In all the chaos we forget all these wedding venues have been working with limited staff, and some had to close their doors and give their staff take an extended layoff. With this in mind all of us in the wedding industry are more then excited to book venues and give our couples the wedding day that they may have had to postpone not just once, but often 2 or 3 times.

One couple included my Daughter. This wedding was really difficult to pull together because of the constant changes. The wedding had been postponed once and we were now planning in the aftermath of COVID. This was due to the rollercoaster of rules that seemed like they change everyday right up to the week of her wedding. When I say she was having a meltdown, that's putting it mildly. She was a basket case, and I didn't blame her. We didn't know if we were allowed to have dancing until the week of the wedding.

So many couples are going through the post-pandemic stress of planning a wedding and we can't always blame the venues or restaurants or any facility that's coming out of this mess. We have to remember that they have been dealing with the ups and downs of changing rules and regulations themselves - regulations that are often viewed differently from one county or city to another. Some helpful tips to keep in mind in planning your wedding, especially in the near future. The staff and managers are catching up to the demands of the public with a sudden long awaited reopening.

Venues such as restaurants, country clubs, in fact, any place that had dinning and held parties and weddings, may still be understaffed and overwhelmed. Your best plan when planning is to stay connected! This means that every couple of days, or at least once a week as you get closer to your wedding day, call to make sure you didn't miss an update or a new reinstated regulation. Ask about COVID testing for your guests and you, even though your county or city might be opening that doesn't mean the venue your city is in has the same rule. Ask about the staff and cake cutting. As a case in point, our venue would not handle our cake! My hope is we continue to work through pandemic regulations and weddings will once again be "Normal".

Madeline

P.S. I want to say thank you to The Long Beach Museum of Art for helping us through all the craziness !